Has Ghost Hunters Found Real Paranormal Evidence?

[FlexGunship]

Certainly not (what was unclear about my writing??): My argument presupposes nothing (indeed, that would be highly unscientific); however I'm extremely skeptical about it. Currently my bet is that paranormal or supernatural are NOT the truth. But I'm open to change my mind about it.

Just the same as good ole' Randi! The only difference between you and Randi id that he went out and raised a million bucks for the sole purpose of enticing someone to prove him wrong. Randi isn't a scientist himself, he has very good scientific training, and a relatively strong background, but he still relies on universities and laboratories to test the claimants of his prize. The JREF only does preliminary screening to same time and money. They have a few YouTube videos of some of the preliminary tests.

A lot of the claimants are scared off by a simple document they must sign. All of the tests are to be video taped and must be made available for public scrutiny regardless of the outcome. No matter how poorly they perform, the results are available for everyone to see. This caused quite a stink in the "woo-woo" community. A team of dowsers were the ones who first complained about this: they only wanted results released if they were successful. As a result Randi didn't allow them to be tested. I happen to think this is fair, but a lot of people don't. It is the largest sticking point for many psychics, crystal healers, etc...

 

[pantaz]

... A lot of the claimants are scared off by a simple document they must sign. ...

I think that's part of it. Even more so, in my opinion, is the mutually agreed upon test protocol. Typically, a person makes some claim of "supernatural" ability, says they want to take the "Million Dollar Challenge", and they submit the http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge/challenge-application.html" . That's when negotiations begin on the test protocol, and shortly thereafter, when they discover that all the tricks they planned to use are already known and excluded, most applicants fade away.

This is sometimes followed by the applicant complaining that the test is unfair, that the JREF is cheating (?), that the million dollars doesn't really exist, and so on. The http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay.php?f=43" has quite a few examples.

 

[FlexGunship]

This is sometimes followed by the applicant complaining that the test is unfair, that the JREF is cheating (?), that the million dollars doesn't really exist, and so on. The http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay.php?f=43" has quite a few examples.

I love the claim that the money doesn't exist. As though that would somehow redeem them in the process.

"Why aren't you proving to the world that psychic powers exist? You could win a million dollars from the JREF."

"The money doesn't exist."

"Okay... the Nobel f**king prize?"

"Uh... money doesn't exist?"